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“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”

That quote is one of the most famous lines from Shakespeare’s best-known play, “Romeo and Juliet,” perhaps because it so easily adapts to whatever rhetorical situation you may be facing. Juliet argues that names and any baggage associated with them are artificial and do not necessarily define the object to which they are attached. The object stands apart from its name and should be judged on its merits alone. It’s a noble philosophy, but one we clearly still struggle with.

Take this car, the 2014 Kia Cadenza. It’s got luxury car features, behaves like a luxury car should, and starts at a luxury car-like $35,900. The issue is the Kia name on the hood. Though its stock is rapidly changing for the better, the Kia name is generally associated with cheap, boring cars. Advances wrought by cars such as the new Optima have altered that perception, but the idea that the same company that once sold the rather forgettable Spectra would try to sell a luxury sedan is a difficult one for many potential customers.

The solution, as with most any question of a vehicle’s substance, is to drive one. Do so, and you’ll find that the new Cadenza drives very well. Its ride is just a little firm, which foreshadows its competency in handling a corner. It’s no sports car and it doesn’t pretend to be, but it corners surprisingly flat and confidently, enough to encourage you to drive briskly on a good road rather than dart along the straights and creep through corners as too many drivers are prone to do. Meanwhile, you ride along in comfort, mostly unaware of the road’s imperfections until they become severe. Likewise, you’re not likely to hear much from any outside annoyance as the cabin is whisper quiet.

You’ll also be happy with the power provided by Kia’s latest and most powerful 3.3-liter V-6. Equipped with direct injection, continuously variable valve timing across the board, and a three-stage intake manifold, the engine provides stronger mid-range torque than its 255 lb-ft figure might suggest. Hitting that peak at 5200 RPM smoothly transitions you to the potent end of the horsepower band, which peaks at 293 hp at 6400 RPM. Run it up there and the Cadenza will be moving surprisingly quick for a naturally aspirated car of its size. On the test track, this equated to a zero-to-60 mph sprint of 6.3 seconds and a quarter-mile run in 14.8 seconds at 95.7 mph, or slightly quicker than a comparably equipped, V-6-powered, rear-wheel drive Chrysler 300. Such sprightliness is in part thanks to its curb weight of just 3755 pounds and to its smooth, smart-shifting six-speed automatic gearbox. Those things also contribute to its official EPA ratings of 19 mpg city and 28 mpg highway. Our test loop returned 18.9 mpg in a mix of city, highway, and canyon driving.

The Cadenza has other tricks as well. It packs as much head, shoulder, and legroom as a BMW 5 Series (more front seat legroom, actually). Things like navigation, leather, dual-zone automatic climate control, keyless entry and start, Bluetooth, back up camera and sensors, heated power seats and Infinity stereo system are all standard. Much of them are controlled through a standard 8-inch touch screen in the dash that displays the refreshingly intuitive and easy-to-read UVO infotainment system. Our tester was the top-shelf Technology model, which added a sunroof, adaptive headlights, digital instrument cluster reminiscent of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, upgraded leather, seat coolers, power steering column adjustment, rear seat heaters, adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, lane departure warning, electric parking brake, and 19-inch wheels. It rang in at $41,900, a lot by Kia standards. For comparison, a comparably powerful and well-equipped BMW 535i rings up at more than $75,000. You can get that down to around $60,000 if you spec the less powerful but equally quick four-cylinder 528i.

The Cadenza pulls off its tricks well. The UVO infotainment system is easier to use than many luxury competitors’. The materials feel rich and the car is snugly assembled. The interior design is conservative, but it’s well-executed and ergonomically friendly. A look inside any Lexus built between 1990 and 2011 will confirm that wild interior designs are not what the luxury car buyer ordered.

If the Cadenza has any drawbacks, they’re these. First, the fuel economy could be better. That 528i gets to 60 mph as quickly as the Cadenza, despite weighing slightly more, and has significantly higher city and highway fuel economy ratings. Speaking to its direct competition, the Hyundai Azera and Toyota Avalon also get better official fuel economy ratings while returning equal acceleration numbers. Second, the Cadenza’s transmission doesn’t rev-match on downshifts, so you can expect a little head toss particularly when using the paddle shifters, though Kia tells me it’s already looking into it.

The third and final problem is the one we started with: perception. Philosophically, many would agree with Juliet that substance trumps branding. Certain car companies, however, have built empires around brand perception. Everyone here knows someone who bought or leased the cheapest Mercedes, Lexus, or BMW they could find just so they could tell people that’s what they drive. You can tell them that Europeans use C-Classes for taxicabs and the Lexus ES is a Toyota Camry (now Avalon) in disguise, but the power of the badge trumps such reasoning.

How much a problem that is, though, is a matter of debate. Kia claims many of its buyers of loaded Optimas are stepping down from luxury brands like BMW and car payments they can’t afford in a rough economy. New buyers who came of car-buying age during the Great Recession are showing more interest in value than image, and satisfied Kia customers of days gone by are reaching a point where they may want to move up and would be happy to stay within the brand. It’s very possible we could be witnessing the rebirth of the Kia brand.

This isn’t as daring as it sounds. The Cadenza excels at being a quiet, comfortable, roomy, unpretentious cruiser — exactly what a Lexus ES used to be. Lexus, of course, had a midlife crisis and decided it needs to build German-style sedans, abandoning a big market that was perfectly happy with the old, un-sporty ES. The Cadenza has far more in common with the cushy 2008 ES that sold nearly 83,000 copies than it does with the hard-riding new model, which is on track to sell a third fewer copies. Plenty of people bought that Lexus for what it was, not what it wasn’t. Maybe the Cadenza can convince them to do the same. To paraphrase Juliet, “Thou art thyself, though not a Kia (as we know it).”